Boxed In Revamp
by BobWhite
Summary: What if Tony had been shot in the episode 'Boxed In? Full summary inside. Pls R&R 2 find out more.
1. The Shootout

**Full Summary:**

What if Tony had been shot in the episode 'Boxed In'? Will Gibbs and the others find Tony & Ziva before DiNozzo bleeds to death? And will DiNozzo survive long enough to get to the hospital?

**The Shootout:**

**The Port:**

Walking around the Port, they should have known that something bad was going to happen. There was no doubt in Ziva's mind that something bad was going to happen, but it's not like they could have planned for it to go the way they wanted. When they got to the open container, they looked in but saw nothing. Ziva grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him behind the boxes as the guy with the gun started shooting from behind the forklift. They were doing pretty good, keeping their own ground. Ziva had her back turned away from Tony as she was firing at someone and Tony was firing at the guy behind the forklift. As they moved to take shelter inside the container, a lucky shot rang out and Tony hit the ground, hard.

"Ahhh!"

"Tony!"

**The Box:**

Ziva grabbed Tony and helped him up and into the box. They both still had their guns so they could at least shoot anyone that came into view. But it didn't happen that way. Instead of coming into view, the doors were shut on them and locked. Ziva helped Tony sit down and took a look at his shoulder. Tony was already starting to slip unconscious, but Ziva grabbed his shoulder and pressed on it, making him snap back to consciousness.

"Jeez Ziva, that hurts!"

"You need to stay awake Tony. I'm not going to let you fall asleep on me."

"Sleep sounds good right now though."

"I don't care. When Gibbs and McGee figure out that we're missing they'll come looking for us. And when they find us, they're going to want to see that we are both okay."

"Yea, well you might be okay, but I definitely am not. Did the bullet go all the way through?"

"Let me look. Can you lean forward for me?"

"I'll do my best."

Tony leaned as far forward as he could go. Ziva removed the shoulder of his jacket and looked at his back. She closed her eyes when she saw no exit wound. She put his jacket shoulder back on and helped him lean back against the box.

"There is no exit wound Tony. The bullet is still in you."

"Well, that's not good."

"What, no ritorical anything from a movie or anything?"

"No, not in the mood. Why don't you figure out why they were so interested in keeping us away from this container?"

"And what are you going to do in the mean time?"

"Bore you with my snoring?"

"Not even funny Tony. Come on, up you get. You can help me the best you can. We'll keep you awake, even if I have to beat you myself."

"That sounds too mean, even for you!"

"Yeah, well, I don't want to have to explain to Gibbs how you got shot!"

_**More to come in next chapter…**_

_**Please REVIEW…**_


	2. The Container

**The Container:**

**Locked In & Stubborn:**

Ziva was the first to notice that the container they were in was moving. She held onto Tony so that he wouldn't be jostled around too much by the movement. Tony was having more and more trouble keeping himself awake, what with the blood loss and all. At the moment, he was sitting down, Ziva was cradling is head in the crook of her arm trying to keep him steady as the container was moved from its present position. Being found was getting slimmer by every second they were moved.

When the container finally stopped moving, well to the point that it was no longer on one of the giant forklifts, Ziva let Tony rest against the crate and went to look around. She had taken off her kerchief as well as Tony's belt and used the kerchief as a bandage and the belt as a way to keep the pressure on the wound that was needed. She moved to the door and listened before getting down to see if she could see out a crack in the bottom of the door. With no luck there, she got back up and helped Tony stand so that they could see what was so important within the boxes.

Tony sat on one of the crates as Ziva opened one and then they both just stared. Tony picked up one of the bootleg DVD's and just stared. There was no way these people had tried to kill them over a couple thousand bootleg DVD's that weren't even that good. He threw the DVD back into the crate and looked around. There had to be something else here than just crappy bootleg movies.

"What are you thinking Tony?"

"There has to be something else here that we are missing. Something we can't see."

"Like what? Or are you just hallucinating due to the amount of blood loss?"

"Probably hallucinating, but I mean look around, see for yourself."

"Wait, you might be on to something. Did the container look bigger to you on the outside?"

"Bigger how?"

"I mean longer Tony. This is wrong, the dimensions of the container. It's almost like the inside of the container shrunk."

"So maybe there is a false wall in the back."

"Hang on, I was just…" _Ziva kicked the back wall and made a hole through the plywood that had been painted to look like a metal sheet. She used her knife and made a bigger whole that the two of them could get through._

"Okay, not bad at all."

"Come on Tony, up you get. We need to see what's inside that they were so adamant in keeping a secret from Port Authority."

"What, I can't just rest?"

"NO, you look like you're about to fall asleep. Come on!"

"Alright, alright you win, I'm getting up."

Ziva helped Tony off the crate and through the hole in the plywood. It was a tight squeeze but they managed to get in without injuring Tony any more than he already was. Ziva read the inscription on the crates and then looked at Tony.

"What?"

"They say 'Danger, high explosives'."

"Oh, yeah that's pretty much bad. What are you doing?"

"Seeing what kind of explosives are actually in these containers. Just stay there for a second."

"It's not like I can sit down anyways."

Ziva climbed onto one of the crates and opened the top one, carefully lifting the lid. When she came back down, she had a wad of money in her hands.

"Not explosives at all. That crate is full of money."

"Let's burn it."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, first it'll tell us if it's real or not and second, it'll give us some much needed heat."

"Or it will just smoke up the place and send little embers into the air."

"We'll still be able to see if it's real or not."

"I'm not going to argue with you Tony."

Tony did his best to pull out a lighter from his pocket and then Ziva lit the money in her hand. When it turned blue, Tony just sighed.

"What, what's blue mean?"

"Blue means that it is counterfeit money. Whoever was shipping this container probably thought nobody would know that he was sending fake money to wherever. They would spend the money just like any kind of money until it was too late. When they got caught they'd know what kind of money they had. It's normally called 'Funny Money' because it's fake."

"Oh, well at least we know it's not real then. But we're still not going to burn it. We don't need any more problems than we already have."

"Okay, okay, Gibbs would have probably said the same thing to. I'm gonna sit down for a while."

"You okay Tony?"

"Just weak that's all. You continue to do whatever you need to do and I'll just sit here."

"Just don't fall asleep on me."

"Don't have to worry about that."

Ziva helped Tony sit down on the floor before moving the boxes around and making a place for the two of them to sit if they were to keep themselves out of bullets-way. Ziva kept glancing over at Tony to make sure he wasn't sleeping. If he fell asleep, or unconscious, she didn't know if she would be able to move him behind the crates when it came down to it. She would have to wake him up by pressing on his shoulder wound and would probably get a scream from Tony in the process but it would be the only way to wake him up without causing him any more harm than necessary.


	3. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Okay, I don't think I have ever gotten this many favorites and followers on a story before. What would you do if I took the story down just to publish later when I complete it? Would you yell at me? I mean it! 26 followers in the first day with 4 favorites and I keep getting them by the hour. Every time I check my email there are at least twenty new followers and 5 new favorites.

I get that you like the story and I'm working on the third chapter as I write this, but wow! Please, if you are favoriting, I would also like to know what you think about the story and where you think I should go with it. At the moment, I'm technically following the story line, only Tony has still been injured.

Please review and tell me what you think should happen to DiNozzo. I would really like to know what you all think. Third chapter will be up sometime tonight or tomorrow, but you might get the fourth chapter as well.

I don't think I'm going to make it a long story like most of my other stories are, but thank you all for following and favoriting this story. Lets me know that there are people out there that think I write very well.

Sincerely,

BobWhite


	4. Missing

**Missing:**

**Port Security Office:**

Gibbs and McGee walked into Port Security Office looking pissed. Well Gibbs looked pissed, McGee just looked nervous like he always does. DiNozzo and Ziva hadn't checked in in nearly two hours, and they had only been checking the Port for anything suspicious that might help with the case that they were working on. The Port Security Chief saw them first and moved to see if he could help.

"Hi, I'm Chief Matthew Lake. How can I help you today gentlemen?"

"Agent Gibbs and Agent McGee, we're looking for two of our team. They were checking the Port for anything suspicious."

"Ah yes, Agents DiNozzo and Officer David. Um, yes, they were checking the south pier. We can go there if you want, see if they might have found anything. The south pier you kind of get shoddy radio reception so they might not have been able to check in and cell phones really don't work out here."

"Yea we noticed since we can't raise them on their cell phones either. They better just be looking around. McGee lets go."

"Coming Boss."

Gibbs and McGee left with Chief Lake and headed for the area where Tony and Ziva had last been in contact with them. Upon finding nothing, they headed out on foot to see if they might have walked around a little. Upon finding first the car, and then the dead body of some guy, Gibbs called in Ducky and Palmer and told Chief Lake that he needed to shut the Port down.

"Chief Lake, my people are missing somewhere in your Port and you are going to shut this place down. No one leaves and no one comes onto the Port without my authority, is that clear?"

"Crystal, I'll get my people to shut the gates immediately. If your people are still on the Port, we'll find them."

With that Chief Lake walked off, back to his own truck to head back to the Port Security Office (PSO). Gibbs and McGee grabbed their kits from the car and went to check on whatever might lead them to where Tony and Ziva were located. Ducky & Palmer arrived shortly after to collect the dead guy. It was McGee's shout that drew the others to his position.

**Finding The Blood:**

"Boss, you might want to see this."

"What is it McGee?"

"Looks like blood. It's a small trail and then it completely disappears. It looks like there was a container here at one point."

"Grab a swab of the blood McGee; we'll get Abby to run it to see whose it is."

"What is your gut telling you Jethro?" _Ducky asked._

"That for some reason or another that guy over there was shooting at Ziva & Tony and one of them was hit. They took refuge inside the container but before we could get to them or they could figure a way out of their current situation, they were locked in and the container was moved. I want to know who moved the container and where it was headed. We'll have to rely on Abby to tell us which one of them was shot."

"It could be a graze, couldn't it?" _Palmer asked._

"It could be, there's not that much blood on the ground so it could be a graze, but when we find them, we'll know more. Come on Mr. Palmer, we need to get our guest back to autopsy to figure out where he is originally from. We'll see you back at NCIS Gibbs."

**Searching The Port:**

Gibbs and McGee put the evidence in their car and continued to search on foot for a while before getting into their car and heading around the port. They needed to find Ziva and Tony before it was too late. God only knew which one of them had been shot and if it had been just a graze or not. When night fell, they headed back to the PSO and called Abby via a landline to get her help on going through all the security footage from the port. Once all the security footage was sent to Abby, Gibbs and McGee headed back to NCIS to see what they could find out from both Abby and Ducky.


	5. The Magic of Gibbs' Gut

**The Magic of Gibbs' Gut:**

**Port Security Office:**

It was the next morning before Gibbs and McGee were back at the PSO, having spent all night at NCIS going over all the footage that was streaming from the security cameras to see if they could find Tony and Ziva. The blood that McGee had collected turned out to be Tony's much to everyone's dismay. Ducky had figured out that it had been Ziva's bullet that had killed the man in autopsy.

So here they were, going over new security footage and relaying it to Abby's lab to see if she could get anything off of it. Communicating via a landline cause cell service sucked in the PSO, Abby and McGee were quite certain that the container had not left the Port since the shutdown and was still somewhere in the shipping yard. So having concluded that, Gibbs and McGee hung up the phone with Abby, went out to their car with a radio from the PSO and headed out into the shipyard to see if they could pinpoint where the container had been taken.

Gibbs only wished that they weren't too late in finding them and that Tony wasn't too badly injured…

**The Container:**

Ziva woke slowly, having drifted off sometime in the middle of the night. When she realized where she was and that they hadn't been found the previous night, she shifted to see where Tony was. He'd slouched down further against the crate and wall. She put her hand on his neck to check for a pulse and when she found one, relief spread over her face.

"Tony, come on Tony, time to wake up. I thought we said you weren't allowed to fall asleep. Come on Tony, WAKE UP!" _Ziva said grabbed his wound and pressing her fingers into it, making him snap awake._

"AHHH! Ziva, what the hell did you do that for?"

"You fell asleep Tony, we said you weren't allowed to fall asleep."

"Yeah, well you fell asleep too and I was tired. Why would I not be able to sleep if you can?"

"Because Tony, I'm not in the mood to tell Gibbs that you got shot and then died on me."

"Yeah, you're probably right. He'd bring me back to life; head slap me and then kill me himself."

"Yeah but he would probably head slap me first for letting you die. Okay, up you get, we need to figure out how to contact Gibbs and with your mind that shouldn't be a problem."

"What are you saying that there is a possibility that we might be able to figure out a way to leave Gibbs a trail for him and McGeek to follow?"

"Tony you're a genius. We can use the money and push it through the holes in the container. Okay, well I can push it through the holes as you hand me the money."

"You know, I would have come up with that eventually."

"Yes, you would have, but by that time I think we would have gotten to wherever this container is headed. And since we're still moving, my guess is that we are going in circles because no doubt Gibbs locked the place down after we went missing."

"So this guy has just been circling all night long?"

"No, he probably stopped for some rest and then continued what he was doing. But we need to hurry, come on. Hand me some money so I can start shoving it out the holes."

Ziva stood up on one of the crates and grabbed the money that Tony handed her and pushed the money out the holes. If anything, Gibbs would see the money and follow it straight to them. If not, they were screwed. Ziva could tell that Tony needed to get to the hospital. He had already lost so much blood and despite the container already being cold, he was shivering worse than yesterday. They kept pushing the money out the holes and it didn't matter that Tony was complaining of being tired, she wasn't going to let him fall asleep, not again. It was a miracle that she was able to wake him up the first time. She didn't think she would be able to wake him up again.

**Follow The Money:**

The money had been seen falling to the ground from the container and though it was late in the afternoon, Gibbs and McGee were still driving around the shipyard looking for Tony & Ziva. It was Gibbs who stopped and watched the homeless man bending down and picking up the money. The homeless man seemed to be following a trail of money and getting out of the car to talk to the man, Gibbs saw why.

"Sir, can I ask you something?"

"It's just lying here, waiting to be picked up. You can't take it from me!"

"I'm not going to take the money from you. I just need to know how long you have been picking up the money."

"About thirty minutes. It started coming out of a container headed for one of the warehouses on the North Pier. But I wouldn't go there man, that's where the bad duded are."

"What bad dudes?"

"They carry lots of guns at the warehouse. And that Chief Lake guy is in cahoots with them. He never was a nice guy, always seemed greedy to me."

"Thank you sir. Keep doing what you're doing, you need it more than anyone at the moment."

"You're welcome sir."

Gibbs got back into the car, put the car in reverse and backed up before putting the car back in drive and making a U-Turn and following the money towards the warehouse on the North Pier. If Lake was in on what happened to Tony & Ziva, he was definitely going to pay for it…

_**More to come in next chapter…**_

_**Please Review…**_


	6. Rescue Comes

**Rescue Comes:**

**Case Closed:**

The container stopped moving and voices could be heard on the other side of the doors. Ziva got on top of one of the containers and pointed her gun downwards, towards the bottom of the doors. Whoever opened the door was going to get his foot shot off. And if just so happened that the boss of the operation they were looking in to opened the door slowly, not paying attention to where his feet might be and told them that they needed to come out. Ziva's response was by pulling the trigger and the boss jumped back screaming in pain.

Ziva wiggled off the crate and down next to Tony. She would have given Tony his gun but she noticed that he had slipped unconscious. Checking for a pulse, she was relieved to find one, but it was weak and rapid and she knew that he wouldn't last much longer in the container. She prayed that Gibbs and McGee would get to them and soon because she didn't want to have to bury not only a colleague but also a friend. Shouts from outside told her that they were attempting to open the doors again, this time from afar.

They pulled the doors half-way open with rope and shouted for them to come out of there, that they knew there was two federal agents in there and that they needed to come out or that they were coming in. If these guys knew that they were federal agents, then that must mean that there was a mole within the Port Security Office. Someone had told them that they were in the container and missing and that's what was going down now.

"Come out now, or we come in." _the man said in a thick accent that sounded like it was South African._

"What will stop you from killing us if we do come out?" _Ziva shouted, she was stalling, giving Gibbs and McGee time to get to the warehouse that they had stopped in. Tony needed to be in a hospital and soon._

"They give you their word. Officer David, its Chief Lake, I heard that you had been found. How is Agent DiNozzo?"

"DiNozzo is fine, how did you find out we were here, Lake?"

"I have security all over the port looking for the two of you, come out, they won't hurt you."

"I don't believe you. We are staying right here until our Boss gets here and then he'll figure out what to do with you and your buddies from South Africa."

"How'd you know we were working together?"

"For one, the only person that would be able to tell these goons that we were Federal Agents would be you since you were the only person we told. And for two, you came alone, without our Boss which makes me think that you knew exactly where we were the whole time."

"You're very smart girl. But you still need to get out here. I won't be able to stop these guys from coming in and getting you for much longer." _Lake said, unfortunately he didn't see Gibbs, McGee and a few other NCIS agents including Director Sheppard walking up behind him or the group._

"Federal Agents, Freeze! Drop your weapons now!"

The men and Chief Lake were unable to fire their weapons as more police arrived on the scene and what looked like an ambulance. So one of them had been injured after all? Chief Lake couldn't help but smile.

"Wipe that smile off your face Lake. You won't be smiling for much longer, not when you're being charged with treason. Now, where are my agents?"

"Gibbs?!" _Ziva yelled from the container. McGee opened the container doors all the way to see Ziva poke her head out from behind a crate._

**Too Late?**

"Ziva, where's Tony?"

"He's here, just unconscious. Glad you got our message."

"Get the medics over here now! Can you get him out of the container Ziva?"

"With some help yes."

"Let me help."

Gibbs jumped into the container and rounded the crate that they had been hiding behind just in case a shootout ensued. Seeing Tony so pale in the dimming light brought anger to his eyes. He bent down and with the help of Ziva, got Tony standing and moving to the end of the container and to the waiting medics. Tony was laid down on the gurney and the medics set to assessing his injuries and getting some fluids in him.

"The bullet is still in his shoulder. We fell asleep sometime after midnight last night, but woke this morning early. The only way I was able to wake him up was to press my fingers into the wound. He wasn't very happy about that."

"Well, at least he's alive. You'll have to ride with us; the doctors will want to check you out as well."

"I'm fine, though I do need to use the restroom. Being locked in a container for nearly two days doesn't bode well for a woman."

"Ziva, go with them. We'll be at the hospital soon and you can use the restroom while you're waiting for us to show up. It'll be about an hour or so before we can get there anyways. We'll let Abby, Ducky and Palmer know to meet you guys there, though you'll probably get there before they do."

"Alright, I'm going."

**The Hospital:**

The ambulance arrived thirty minutes later at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Though Ziva walked in, Tony was rushed to the ER and then straight to the OR. Ziva was checked and told that she would be okay. She found the bathroom and relieved herself before making her way to the OR Waiting Room. Ten minutes after arriving at the hospital, Abby, Ducky & Palmer arrived. Abby hugged Ziva as tight as she could before sitting down. Tony was alive, that's what they needed to be thankful for. Ducky hugged Ziva too but Palmer just nodded at her.

Palmer wasn't into hugging people that didn't like to be hugged and at the moment, they had nothing better to do than wait, so he got up and went to a vending machine to grab some food and drinks for everyone, even if he was using all the case he had on him to do so. They would thank him in the long run. When he got back to the Waiting Room, Ziva was pacing and Abby looked like she was on the verge of tears. He handed out the food and drink, which got Ziva to sit down.

Forty minutes later, Gibbs, McGee and Director Sheppard walked in after dropping all the evidence off at NCIS and putting the suspects in lockup. Need to see that Tony and Ziva were alright drove Gibbs to speed past every red light with his lights blaring. Upon getting to the Waiting Room, the group could see that no word had come on how Tony was doing and it was wearing on both Ziva and Abby. McGee went to sit next to Abby to keep her calm and Gibbs and Director Sheppard went to sit near Ziva, Ducky and Palmer.

Six hours later and the surgeon is walking out of the OR and to the waiting room where he knows Agent DiNozzo's team is waiting. The information the hospital had gotten from Officer David was that he had been shot yesterday afternoon but that they had been locked in a shipping container for the better part of two days and when he was brought in he wasn't conscious. Now he had to tell Agent DiNozzo's team the news. Let's just hope that they didn't kill him the process.

"Agent DiNozzo?" _the doctor asked and everyone stood up._

"I'm his Boss, Agent Gibbs. How is he?"

"First of all, he came in with a lot of damage. From what Officer David told us, she had to press on his wound to keep him awake and she unwittingly pushed the bullet deeper into his shoulder. Now, in most cases, that wouldn't have mattered, but the bullet managed to nick an artery and we had a hard time repairing the artery. With all the blood that he lost, both internally and externally, he came to us in pretty bad shape. We lost him a few times during surgery but were able to get him back. We are still giving him blood transfusions to restore his blood loss and he was intubated for surgery. Now the intubation tube is still in place as we want to keep him under observation until we deem it necessary to take the tube out. His shoulder should heal perfectly and we were able to stop all the bleeding, but your agent has slipped into a coma. We'll monitor him for the next 48 hours, but it will be up to your agent when he wakes up. I'll have a nurse escort you to his room."

With that the doctor left and a nurse walked in, smiling and asking for them to follow her. They did, but with what the doctor had just told them, they weren't expecting much.

**DiNozzo's Room:**

Day One:

The team was led to DiNozzo's room and after checking his vitals and writing something on his chart, the nurse left to let the team see their co-worker. He didn't look anything like the Tony they all knew and cared about, in fact he looked paler than when he'd been in the container. Abby finally burst into tears and McGee held her as she cried. None were expecting Tony to look so, so lifeless. They knew that the intubation tube was breathing for him and his chest was moving up and down but beyond that, there was no movement.

The slight beeping sound of his heart monitor moved Ziva to speak up, for the first time since she arrived at the hospital nearly eight hours earlier.

"He, uh…he was so, uh…quiet in the container except when I would press on his wound and then he was loud and obnoxious. We actually burned some of the money to get a little warm but that ended up being a bad idea."

"Yea and I bet it was Tony's idea to burn the money in the first place." _McGee said._

"He figured since we didn't know if it was real or not we would figure out if it was when we burned it. Turns out the money was all fake."

"Chief Lake apparently didn't know that then. Maybe we should tell him when we get back to the office to question him and his men. For now, I think we should leave one person here, just to make sure he's safe at all times. Doctor Mallard, would you mind staying, seeing as you have no dead bodies to look after at the moment. Mr. Palmer can come back to the office with us and if we need anything we can call you." _Director Sheppard finished._

"Not at all Director. But maybe someone should take Ziva home. She looks like she could use some sleep." _Ducky said looking over at Ziva who looked like she was going to fall flat on the ground and sleep where she fell._

"I'm good Ducky."

"No you are not my dear. You need some proper sleep. It will do Tony no good if you end up in here as well."

"He has a point Ziva. We'll drop you off at your apartment on the way back to the office."

"Thank you Gibbs, I could use some sleep."

"We'll see you later Ducky, keep us updated will you?"

"Will do Jethro, will do."

With that, the team left with Ziva and headed for their vehicles. Gibbs stopped at Ziva's apartment and helped her inside before heading to NCIS to continue to work on the case at hand. They needed to interrogate their suspects, one at a time and if that didn't work, then together, which was a rule that Gibbs didn't like to ever break. This was going to be a long haul without Tony and his quips about the case or anything in general.

Week One:

After Chief Lake and the others from the warehouse were shipped down to Guantanamo Bay for the stay in prison, the team had no new cases and were thus forced to do nothing but stay with Tony and wait for him to wake up. The doctors had not felt confident in his breathing and had not taken him off the ventilator, which was still breathing for him. There had been a complication and he'd had to have another surgery to keep an infection from spreading. Though Ducky was sometimes needed at the Morgue, the others stayed with him as much as possible. The doctor was confident that they had been able to stop the infection but they would have to monitor his condition closely.

Week Two:

Another setback had Tony being moved out of the Critical Care Unit and into the Intensive Care Unit. He'd developed pneumonia from being on the ventilator for so long. He'd been moved out of the ICU after the first few days and into the CCU. When he'd been rushed back to surgery, the team had waited in the waiting room with Gibbs pacing back and forth. Even when Tony had had the _Plague_, he hadn't been in the hospital for as many set back as now. Dr. Thomas McCray had told them that it wasn't uncommon for someone who has been on a ventilator for a while to develop pneumonia. But it was the other complications that had him stumped on why it was happening.

The team was allowed back into his room after he was moved to the ICU but were told that they wouldn't all be able to stay the night, but that they could take turns in the room. So as Gibbs stayed in the room, the others headed home. They knew that Gibbs would call them if there was any change in Tony's condition. Gibbs had brought a book just in case so that he wouldn't fall asleep. DiNozzo needed him awake, needed to know that he wasn't alone.

Week Three:

Tony was out of the ICU the following week. He was still in the CCU, but at least he wasn't seriously critical anymore. No new cases had come their way so they were just filling out paperwork and waiting in Tony's room for him to wake up. It was hard to see him in the hospital. At least the last time he was in the hospital he was awake most of the time. This time, he was just lying there, so lifeless except the constant movement of his chest as the intubation tube helped him breathe.

Dr. McCoy finally had to tell them that they had done everything medically possible for him, that it was his body's need to heal which is why he wasn't waking up. They didn't buy it. If Tony was out this long, nearly three weeks after he'd been shot, then something had to be wrong. Gibbs had Ducky look over Tony's X-Rays, scans and charts to see if there was something the doctors were missing. But after looking at all of the X-Rays, scans and charts, Ducky had to agree with Dr. McCoy. Tony's body was finally healing after all the setbacks he'd endured during his stay.

Week Four: Waking Up:

DiNozzo came around sometime in the middle of the night. It was fuzzy at first, he didn't know where he was at and there was no one else in the room with him. He could vaguely see some light coming through a window, but that was all and his arm was killing him. He vaguely remembered getting shot the other day as he and Ziva fired back at the men that had been shooting at them. And he remembered that they had been stuck in a shipping container for almost two days, but after that and where he was confused him. He also couldn't breathe or talk for that matter. Realizing this, he started to panic a little which made the machines around him start beeping really loud.

The room was rushed with first nurses and then a doctor was called in, but where his team was he didn't know. He was struggling to breathe, struggling to talk and struggling to understand what was happening to him. The nurses tried to keep him calm and it wasn't until the doctor told them to go get someone that he understood where he was. He was in a hospital but how long he had been there was unknown to him. The nurse was back with Gibbs who immediately walked up to him and told him that he needed to calm down, that the doctor was going to take out his intubation tube. But fear still consumed DiNozzo, so Gibbs hit him on his head to get the point through.

DiNozzo stopped struggling and let the doctor and nurses do what they needed to do. When Gibbs tried to leave the room, he wouldn't let go of his arm, too afraid to lose his only grip on reality. So Gibbs stayed, reassuring DiNozzo that he was going to be alright. DiNozzo was sedated while the doctor took out the tube, so that he wouldn't struggle against the extraction. But because he was sedated, he fell asleep shortly after the tube was removed. Dr. McCoy told Gibbs that it was normal for someone to sleep after being sedated, but the fact that DiNozzo had woken up was a good sign. They would need to run a full battery of tests in the morning to make sure that everything was going to be alright, but initial evidence told him that DiNozzo was going to be fine.

_**More to come in next chapter…**_

_**Please Review…**_

_**Sorry for the long wait, lost internet for a while…**_


	7. The Hospital

**The Hospital:**

**DiNozzo's Room:**

Three days later and Tony seemed to be back to his old self. The tests that had been performed the morning after he woke up came up negative; everything was definitely okay with Tony. Now he just needed to get out of the hospital and back to work before anyone would truly stop worrying about hi, Gibbs especially. As much as he never wanted to admit it, this past year and now this past case, had scared the crap out of Gibbs. Not knowing if Tony was even going to wake up had put him in a 'Mother Hen' mode with the other members of his team, including Mr. Palmer. Granted the cases that did come up were automatically handed over to other agents as Director Sheppard didn't want to give them a case until every member of the team was back at the office.

Tony's arm was in a sling now, so to keep it as immobile as possible to let the wound continue to heal. The stitches had yet to come out so there was no need to send him to Physical Therapy yet. And he would be getting a good Navy Physical Therapist too. He wasn't going to have to pay for the therapist with his own money since he was injured on the job. Ziva, McGee and Abby visited everyday; in fact Abby had nearly squeezed him to death the day after he'd woken up when she saw him, she was so happy to see him awake.

Week Five:

Tony was sitting up now, watching a movie that Ziva had brought him. The TV in his room had been retrofitted with a DVD player so it was easier to watch movies, which was basically all he did anyways when he wasn't sleeping and he didn't have any visitors. On this particular day, it was Ducky who was sitting with him. Though Ducky was normally a talkative fellow, he could see that Tony didn't want to talk at all and wanted to enjoy the movie, which turned out to be 'Nature Unleashed: Avalanche', a movie he hadn't seen yet and it was turning out to be a very good movie. Apparently Ziva had bought a Disaster Film pack and this was one of the movies that came in the pack. She'd brought the pack for him to watch and he had to say that he was quite enjoying watching them.

After the first few days of him being awake, he was told how long he'd been in his coma, which was why it was so confusing for him in the first few minutes after waking up. He'd found out that he'd been comatose for nearly a month, in and out of the ICU and the CCU. He was in stable condition now and was set to begin Physical Therapy a week after his stitches came out, which according to Dr. McCoy would be in about another week. Dr. McCoy wanted to give Tony's arm extra time to heal.

He fell asleep halfway through the movie he was watching and Ducky got up and turned the TV and DVD player off so that he could continue watching when he woke up. As much as he hated falling asleep when someone was in the room or if he was watching a movie, he did only because his body was telling him he was tired and it was all the drugs they had him on. It was around that time the Ziva showed up with just two coffees in her hand, one for Ducky and one for herself. They began to whisper, which they knew Tony wouldn't be able to hear with all the medicine he was hopped up on.

"So how is he doing Ducky?"

"He's doing quite well my dear; those movies you brought him sure did cheer him up, though he did just fall asleep."

"I thought they would cheer him up. I bought another Disaster Film pack that he might be interested in watching, but I'll wait till he finishes this pack before I bring in the other pack. And who knows he may be out of the hospital by that time."

"Let us hope that he is out of the hospital by then. I do not think he will be very happy if he is stuck in here much longer than he already has been."

"Gibbs said that he had to be in the room when they took the intubation tube out, he was too confused, didn't know where he was."

"Well what did you expect Ziva? He thought he'd just gotten shot a few days earlier, not four weeks earlier. Just give him some time to get back in the swing of things. He'll be back to his normal self before any of us know it. Just wait, he'll get you and McGee without you even knowing it."

"Get us how Ducky?"

"Well, it is Tony, so use your imagination."

"You do have a point there. Would you like to go home now? I came to relieve you anyways."

"Thank you Ziva, just don't badger him too much when he wakes up. He still wakes up confused now and then when we switch people on him."

"I've noticed that. It must have to do with comas*****."

"Dr. McCoy said that some people can be confused when they come out of comas but that it should wear off eventually, sooner rather than later."

"Yes, well let's hope that it is sooner and that he didn't forget who he is in the process of all of this."

"That, my dear, would be something we would all have to get used to. Goodbye for now. Call if he needs or wants anything."

"Will do Ducky."

Ziva watched as Ducky gathered his belongings up and then leave the room. DiNozzo seemed to still be asleep so she grabbed the book she had brought with her (something she learned to do while watching over him while he was in his coma) and started reading where she left off. About an hour later, while she was still reading her book, Tony started to stir from his nap.

"How long have I been out? And where's Ducky?"

"He had to go home and get some sleep. And you've been out for about two hours. Don't worry Tony, you need the sleep and your body needs to finish healing. You'll be fine."

"What happened to the movie?"

"Ducky turned it off; he thought you might want to re-watch it from the beginning once you woke up."

"Could you turn it back on Ziva?"

"Sure, don't mind if I do."

"Thank you and thank you for bringing the movies to begin with, they aren't actually that bad."

"That's what I said when I watched them. I have another pack of Disaster Films as well but I figured you could watch this pack first and figured you would be out of the hospital before I brought the other pack in."

"Well, you might as well bring the other pack in, I've watched the other three movies of the pack and this is the last one."

"Dually noted; Disaster Pack #2 will be brought in the next time I come."

"So, any new cases?"

"No, Tony, no new cases; the Director doesn't want to give us any new cases until you are back in the office, though Gibbs has been pressuring her into giving us one. Even Palmer is itching to get out of the building and that's saying something."

"How's Abby? She hasn't come to see me in a while."

"That's because after she nearly squeezed you to death (no pun intended), Gibbs kind of told her that she couldn't come to see you if she was going to squeeze you every time she saw you. She had to agree so she makes us give her all the updates when we come back from visiting with you. But Abby is fine; she wants you back to work just like the rest of us do."

"Ah, I feel so loved."

"You should've seen Gibbs face when he saw you unconscious, as he was helping me get you out of the container. You were so pale Tony, worse than you'd ever been and worse then you were while you were in a coma."

"Yeah, I really don't remember much of that time. I know I could hear people talking around me but what I was dreaming has totally left my mind."

"Dr. McCoy says that that is normal with coma patients. Once they wake up, they tend to forget what it was they were dreaming about the entire time they were unconscious."

"Yeah, maybe we should stop talking now, the movie is about to start."

"Yeah, you know this one is my favorite."

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

"The actor is pretty cute."

"Which actor?"

"Andrew Lee Potts, he plays Jock in this movie."

"Figures you would pick the guy with the long hair."

"Hey, you probably think the girls that play Callie & Katya are cute so don't tease me on who I think is cute."

"Okay, okay, you have a point there."

They settled down to watch the movie and about halfway through the movie, Tony fell asleep again. Ziva only smiled but didn't turn the movie off. If anything, Tony would borrow the movie while he was at his apartment (or most likely Gibbs house) recuperating. She settled in to watch the rest of the movie.

**Physical Therapy:**

Week Seven:

Two weeks later and Tony was in the P.T. room with his therapist. Dr. McCoy had removed the stitches nearly a week ago and had agreed that he could start his Physical Therapy soon. Tony wanted to get out of the hospital so bad, having already been cooped up for nearly two months. According to Dr. McCoy, his P.T. would last another three weeks, depending on how fast he was able to recuperate and get back to his old self. So, though Gibbs told him to take it easy, he did his best to get back to his old self as quick as possible. Being cooped up in the hospital for another three weeks wasn't going to bode well for Tony.

That first week felt like hell. He hadn't moved much almost the whole time he'd been at the hospital, since four weeks of his stay he'd been hooked up to a ventilator. He'd mostly sat in the wheelchair trying to see if he could use his arm at all. By the time he was able to get back to his room, he was sweating. It was a good thing neither Ziva nor McGee were in the room when he was brought back or they probably would have laughed.

Week Eight:

After the first initial week, Tony was getting stronger and stronger everyday. He could lift his arm without having to take a break, he could wheel himself out of his room and he was even up and walking around his room, thanks to Gibbs who'd brought him a pair of sweat pants from work to wear instead of just his hospital gown. He was even strong enough to crack jokes at the cute nurses, of course that was only when none of the team was around. When the team was around, he was back to being somber.

The team would ask him how he was feeling and what he wanted to after he was able to leave the hospital. His response was to sit in his own chair for a few hours without having someone constantly watching over him, which got a few pinpointed stares at Gibbs. Tony hadn't asked about the stares since he didn't really need to know about them at the time. He figured that they would tell them when he was discharged from the hospital. He didn't want to be himself in the hospital; he wanted to be himself when he was finally back to work.

Week Nine:

Physical Therapy was going better every day. Tony no longer threw things out of his way and his mood seemed to change as he got stronger. But the real test would come when he had to shoot a gun for the first time. Ziva said that she would take him to the shooting range so that he could practice all he wanted without getting teased by McGee or Abby, who had finally been allowed back to the hospital by Gibbs. Abby would constantly chatter away, telling Tony about what was going on and what he was missing. Sometimes she wouldn't even realize that he had fallen asleep until she asked him a question and he wouldn't answer and then she'd look over at him and notice that he'd fallen asleep so then she would stop talking.

Thought Tony was always falling asleep; Dr. McCoy said it was normal, that once he was back to his normal routine that he wouldn't sleep as much. Ducky figured that Tony was sleeping so much so he didn't have to answer questions whenever someone asked him a pinpointed question. It was a good way to avoid answering the questions, for now at least. But even after Tony was discharged, Dr. McCoy still had to give him the okay to return to work and he didn't know if that would be right away or not, depending on how well things turned out the first week or so after he was discharged.

**Leaving The Hospital:**

Gibbs House:

Tony was discharged from Bethesda Naval one week after his P.T. was finished. Sure he still had to work with his shoulder and he would need to visit the shooting range, but he was well enough to leave the hospital for the time being. He would have to go back to Bethesda Naval in two weeks to see if he could return to a full days of work. For now, instead of going back to his apartment like he'd wanted to, he was forced to go to Gibbs house where a bed had been set up in the upstairs guest room. Gibbs wanted to make sure that Tony was doing everything that Dr. McCoy ordered so the entire team would be staying at Gibbs' while Tony was there, though they would get to go to their own homes every now and then.

Ziva had a bag with her, which he knew to be his because she'd grabbed his apartment keys and gone over to get what he'd asked for. She also had his laptop bag and a bag that he didn't remember even being at his house and presumed it to be her bag, hopefully with some more movies inside like she'd promised him. The two were getting along better then they ever had, watching movies and all. If they weren't watching movies, then they would be back to bickering, Ziva asking why he wasn't himself and Tony completely ignoring the question and asking about something that happened three days prior.

Gibbs, who was used to head slapping Tony whenever he got annoying, was having a hard time not head slapping him for the time being. He'd wanted to head slap Tony out of his coma but had been told that that probably wasn't a good idea. So he was content on head slapping Ziva when it came down to wanting to head slap Tony. Ziva understood, though when Gibbs wasn't looking, she'd head slap Tony and say 'Gibbs wanted me to give you this'.

And so Tony fell into a routine while at Gibbs house. Now that the cupboards were stocked with food due to the fact that Tony needed to eat something that wasn't take-out, Gibbs would make dinner for the both of them, that is when Tony wasn't sleeping. The drugs Dr. McCoy had him on to make sure no infection set in after being discharged also put Tony to sleep, which in some cases was a good thing.

Instead of going to the shooting range like Ziva had promised, Gibbs set up a target in his basement and just put a silencer on Tony's gun so none of the neighbors would wonder what was going on. Gibbs didn't want Tony to go to the Shooting Range and fear that some idiot wouldn't watch where he was going and run into Tony and Tony would be back in the hospital where the team didn't want him to be.

In all honesty, Tony felt like Gibbs was being a mother hen, though he would never say that to Gibbs face, he knew better for fear of getting head slapped. He so couldn't wait to get to his own apartment and have this whole ordeal put behind him for good!

***Don't know if true but I've heard that when you wake up from a coma, you can't remember what you were dreaming or anything like that.***

_**More to come in next chapter…**_

_**Please Review…**_


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

**DiNozzo's Apartment:**

Two weeks later, after his appointment with Dr. McCoy, Tony was back in his own apartment. Living with Gibbs was hard when every time the man was either at work or in his basement, he would call Tony's phone and see if he was alright. The one time Tony refused to answer the phone because he was tired of answering it every hour or so, Gibbs had raced up the stairs to see if his senior field agent was alright. Seeing him leaning against the wall with his laptop on his lap had made Gibbs angry until he realized that Tony probably hadn't heard the phone since the younger man had his headphones on. Tony had learned after that incident to answer his phone no matter what when Gibbs called.

Dr. McCoy had given Tony permission to return to work, which in his eyes was good enough to move out of Gibbs house and to his own apartment. As much as he liked Gibbs as his boss, he definitely didn't like him as a 'mother hen' and always checking up on him to make sure he was okay. But because it was the weekend, Gibbs told him not to come in to work until Monday, so that he could get everything that he needed for work. Ziva helped him get all of his things into his apartment and then left, leaving Tony's gun and badge on the counter after setting some groceries on the bar.

Tony had to clear out his refrigerator, throwing almost all of the food away because it had spoiled in the time that he had been away. Most of the food that he was able to keep had been in the freezer or was condiments for food. It wasn't that hard to get attached to any food in his refrigerator anyways since there really wasn't anything in there that was supposed to last more than a day or two anyways.

After putting all the groceries that he and Ziva had just bought away, he grabbed a beer and headed for his couch, plopped down and turned the TV on to see what was on. He watched about an hour or so of the News before flipping the TV off and pulling the blanket down from the back of his couch, turning off the lamp and fell asleep right on his couch. He was just too tired to go into his room and sleep.

**Back To Work:**

Monday morning came slower than he might have wanted and as he grabbed his gun, badge and keys to his car, which he suddenly realized was still at NCIS headquarters, he reached for his phone to call Ziva or McGee to come pick him up when a knock came at his door. He opened it to find Ziva standing there with a smile on her face.

"I figured you would need a lift in today. With everything that had been going on, we forgot to bring your car back to your apartment building. This way you can always drive your car home tonight anyways. Besides, we were all at work when Gibbs walked in and said he saw your car in the parking lot and then it all made sense why you hadn't showed up yet. He told me to pick you up on the way. We have a case, let's go."

"Jeez, can we not talk so fast Ziva? And did I hear that we have a case? Well it beats heading straight for the office."

"Yeah, come on, your apartment was a little out of the way of the crime scene."

"Dually noted."

He walked out with Ziva and got into the passenger side as she got into the driver's seat. They headed for the crime scene and once there, went to do their perspective duties. They would meet back up at the car when it was time to head back to the office.

"Well, hello Anthony. How are you feeling today?"

"Better and better every day Ducky."

"Well that's good to hear. Mr. Palmer and I were just about to head back to NCIS, we'll see you there."

Ziva and him headed back to the car and headed for the office before Gibbs could yell at them.

**Just Another Day At The Office:**

Ziva helped him set his prank up for McGee and Gibbs as well as everyone else. She knew that he'd been back to his normal self for a while now and had brought all the stuff into work that he'd asked for for his prank. He wanted it to be epic and with Ziva's help it would be. When Gibbs and McGee got back to the office, they sure would be surprised when they sat down. Abby had helped as much as she could, with keeping them in her lab as long as possible.

When Gibbs and McGee came up from Abby's lab, they went straight to their chairs, sat down and both shot right back up with a yelp from both as their chairs erupted in party streamers, their computers erupted with confetti and the phones erupted with silly string, though how Abby had configured that part Tony would never know. Tony had the biggest smile on his face, something the others didn't think they would see for at least another week, till he got settled into his normal routine. Ziva's desk and chair were the only other ones not touched aside from Tony's.

Gibbs looked at the two and knew that they had been in cahoots. Instead of getting mad, he walked up to the both of them and head slapped them both. They knew it was coming and knew that they deserved it, but for Tony, who had only been head slapped once since waking up (and it was the night he woke up), he just smiled, good to be back in the swing of things.

The team worked on the case for four more hours before they broke up and headed to their respective homes for the night. Tony hopped into his car, fished out his car keys and turned over his engine. Just the sound of that engine flooring sounded like music to his ears. He exited the parking lot and headed home.

He had just seen his light turn green and was going forward when the truck came out of nowhere. He tried to floor the gas and get out of the way, but the truck still hit the driver's side of the car, flinging it into a nearby telephone pole. Tony never even knew what hit him. He only knew the pain.

Will the others get to him in time? Will he survive the crash?

Dun, dun, dun, dun! Sorry guys had to do it!

_**Please Review…**_

…_**Look for the Sequel: Back to the Beginning…**_


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